Love is in the Air A Christmas Story
by istanzia
Summary: It's Christmas at the Tendos...woohoo! And who's on most of the ladies Christmas wish? Yep, Ranma... so what will happen when everyone goes after him using the same potion? Thanx for the reviews! FINAL CHAPTER IS UP! please R and R .
1. Default Chapter

Christmas Story: Love Is In The Air  
  
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Begin.  
  
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The sounds of Christmas music playing on the family stereo filtered up into Kasumi's room. Merrily she hummed to herself as she put on her outfit for the day. Christmas eve was today, and there was a lot to do.  
  
"Hold still will you." Akane muttered to Ranma as he squirmed under her. "How am I supposed to tie this thing on you if you won't hold still?" Akane admonished him. Reluctantly Ranma stopped squirming.  
  
"Why do I gotta wear this dumb thing anyway Akane?" Ranma whined. "I only get dressed up for important stuff, not silly things like this." Ranma muttered, and received a sharp smack to the back of his head.  
  
"Idiot. Christmas IS important stuff. Now hold STILL!" Akane said as she jerked Ranma back by his bow tie. She moved his ever so present pigtail out of the way.  
  
"OUCH!" said Ranma as he felt some of his hair get snagged with her fingers as she tied.  
  
"Sorry!" she said as she silently hummed a Christmas Carol. She smiled happily. Today, the Tendo and Saotome families would spend some time together and go out caroling and watch a movie at the theater after supper and then come home and decorate the Christmas tree. It was family time. Which meant, no annoying fiancees. No one to cause a scene. How perfect could that be? 'Too perfect, probably.' thought Akane to herself. Still, one can always hope.  
  
"Why do I have to dress up and nobody else?" whined Ranma for the eighteenth time. Akane sighed.  
  
"We have gone over this a million times," she said as patiently as she could. Which is to say, not too patiently. "Because you and Uncle Genma are guests here, you have to welcome the visitors and Uncle Genma had to go buy a Christmas tree so that we can decorate it later tonight. It's downstairs in the living room, right now."  
  
"I still don't think it's fair," said Ranma. "I mean, I can welcome them wearing my usual clothes can't I?" Akane sighed once more and counted to one hundred, hoping she would calm down before 'accidentally' choking him with his bow tie.  
  
Downstairs the rest of the family, except for Nabiki, were hanging Christmas decorations and singing to themselves as they worked. Today just might be a relatively normal day in the Tendo  
  
household . . . or maybe not. Looking at her clock, Nabiki smiled in anticipation of what was about to happen. Her camera was ready.  
  
Earlier that week, Nabiki had thought up a plan. A perfect plan, that would help her earn some yen. After a little bit of investigating, she started it. Oh, what fun! She could just imagine the looks on their faces. She smiled evilly as she prepared her camera with a new roll of film and new batteries. She glanced at her desk clock. It was 5:10 with 30 seconds. The fun would start soon, very soon. Now, if only Ranma would cooperate...  
  
**********  
  
Ukyou looked into her full length mirror. She had changed into a deep green outfit. Tight pants slip up her legs and fit perfectly. It fit like second skin. The blouse came on next. It had a Peter Pan collar and was a lighter shade of green with embroidered cherries on her breast pocket. Her hair was put up in a high ponytail with a red bow. The reindeer shaped-earrings were next. "I hope Ran-chan likes them," she thought as her earrings were clipped on. There was no way she was going to pierce her ears. She looked at herself again in the mirror.  
  
"Not bad, Ukyou," she thought. A loose red winter coat came on next and she finished her outfit with a pair of black boots. "Ranma, you better appreciate what I'm doing for you. I'll save you from those hussies myself!" With that, Ukyou grabbed her bottle of perfume. It had cost a lot, considering that she was buying it from Nabiki. "Love Potion, #5" said the bottle in Chinese. She might not know much Chinese, but she did recognize the character for love. She added one of Ranma's hairs into the bottle and shook it vigorously. "This will ensure that you'll fall in love with me. Ranma, you're mine. And we'll live happily ever after!" After 5 minutes, she sprayed herself with it. Her smile adorned her face as she grabbed a purse and Ranma's blue Christmas present. She left at exactly 5:12 in the morning.  
  
**********  
  
Elsewhere, in the Nekohanten, to be exact, Shampoo finished putting on the final touches to her outfit. Her infamous tight Chinese dress was just as immodest as her other dresses. Of course, this one was different. It was a Christmas style dress with white fur trimmings. The dress was made of deep red silk with light red embroidered dragons twisting all over it.  
  
"Tonight, Ranma be Shampoo's... for ever," she thought, with a grin. She carefully tip toed to her door and locked it. It would do no good for her grandmother to know what she was doing. Especially, since it was one of her grandmother's most important tonics. She had replaced it with normal perfume, since her grandmother didn't have any reason to get it. She had even bought a little label and printed on it in Chinese characters, "Love Potion, #5" It was perfect. She would return the real bottle to the cupboard once she had caught Ranma.  
  
She reached into her vanity case and brought it out. A small bottle of love potion. She reached into her apron pocket and brought our one of Ranma's hairs. It was quite lucky that Ranma came over to eat so many times. She dropped the hair into the bottle and shook it. She waited for five minutes and kissed it for good luck. After the five minutes, she sprayed some on. She dropped her perfume bottle into her small purse. As she left the restaurant, she picked up the red present by the door. 5:12.  
  
Cologne watched as Shampoo sped away on her bike. She went into her cupboard and took out the bottle of "Love Potion, #5". She would make sure her son-in-law would go after Shampoo. After all, she wanted to go back to China for Chinese New Years.  
  
**********  
  
Kodachi Kuno looked at her new leotard. It was bright red, in the spirit of Christmas, but it still had her trademark sign on it, a black rose. It also had silver piping that accentuated the leotard at exactly the right place. She quickly put it on and admired herself in her mirror. Of course, it was better to call it wall, since her whole wall was a gigantic mirror. She then put on a kimono. It was made from the finest silk and was a dazzling white. A red obi decorated it and fit her perfectly. It was custom made and Kodachi had altered it a bit. Like the deep pockets inside it. Like the tightness of it that also accentuated her slim and taut body. If it weren't for the insane look on her face, she might have been considered cute.  
  
"Ranma darling," she thought to herself as she reached into the kimono and brought out a small bottle of... Love Potion, #5. "Tonight, we will be wed. Me in my splendid kimono, and you in tight black spandex suit that will mark you as mine." She reached into her huge closet and pulled it out. The words on it were, "Kodachi's Property". She had made Sazuke translate the bottle for her, so that she could be sure it was a real love potion and not just normal perfume. She sighed with ecstasy as she imagined Ranma's sleek and muscled form in it. She gently folded it once more and put it away. From another pocket, she brought out a strand of hair. The bottle was opened and the hair dropped. After shaking it, Kodachi sprayed herself with it and tucked it into her pocket. It was quite expensive, especially since she had bought it from that... Nabiki. But any price was worth having Ranma as hers. She quickly picked up Ranma's present, which had a black rose on it, and left the room. Her watch glimmered in the sunlight as we read, 5:12.  
  
**********  
  
Back in the Tendo household, Ranma sneezed a couple of times. He was certain that something horrible was going to happen that day. Goose bumps rolled down his spine as he thought of what could happen. He mentally steeled himself. 'What must happen, will happen,' thought Ranma nobly. He just hoped that not too much of it would happen to him. With that, he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, (where he was at that precise moment) and tugged at his bow tie. Akane was good at tying the bow, he had to admit. One of the few things that she was good at, and didn't kill in the process of making it look right. He sighed sorrowfully as he walked out and made his way downstairs in a suit.  
  
There is a certain thing about the Ranmaverse that keeps bringing a big bunch of coincidences together at exactly the same time. Now, some of these things happen because of some manipulative mind. Some things happen because they turn out that way. And some things happen because the character secretly wishes them to happen. After all, this IS the Ranmaverse. Anything could happen, anything.  
  
Kasumi hummed a small song as she darted around the kitchen from here to there. The temperature had dropped down to a few degrees and was getting colder. Her new and white Christmas apron looked spotless, even though she had been wearing it for some time now. The brosterized chicken was ready, and the sweet and sour sauce was happily boiling away in the sauce pan. A turkey was being baked in the oven and was smelling just... like any of Kasumi's dishes. Perfect. The boiled and peeled potatoes were ready to be mashed and the ingredients for the gravy was on the kitchen's cutting board.  
  
Kasumi smiled as she thought of everything that would happen today. It was bound to be something different. After all, it was Christmas. Unknown to the rest of the family, she took out a sprig of mistletoe and put it on the top of the kitchen door. Sometimes, you just have to give Fate a helping hand.  
  
At precisely 5:15, Shampoo burst into the Tendo household, ready to deliver Ranma's present and intoxicate him with her special perfume.  
  
"Nihau!" shouted Shampoo to the empty hallway. "Merry Christmas to airen!" Ranma peeked around the doorway to the living room and gulped nervously. He silently sent up a prayer asking for help so that he could survive the day.  
  
Shampoo's predatory eyes lit up on Ranma.  
  
"Ohh," said Shampoo as she walked sexily over to him. Her hips were swinging in time to some jazzy rhythm that only she could hear. Her already tight dress seemed to taunt Ranma mentally. She put her present on the floor before she hugged Ranma, moving her body against his. Her arms snaked up around Ranma's neck and absently played with his pigtail as he stayed still, doing quite a good impression of deer caught in the headlights. Shampoo waited a minute before she moved up to try to kiss Ranma. With luck, her special perfume was already working on Ranma.  
  
'It's working!!!' thought Shampoo excitedly. 'Finally, airen be mine.' Before she could make another move on Ranma though, Ukyou walked into the room. Her normal happy go lucky, I'm the cute fiancee smile froze and broke off from her face.  
  
"Why, you Chinese bimbo," she whispered under her breath. She immediately put her present on the floor and jumped at Shampoo, a giant spatula appearing as if by magic in her hands. Shampoo felt Ukyou's presence and quickly pushed Ranma back before blocking Ukyou's swipe with her trademark pair of bonbori that she had stowed away... somewhere on her person.  
  
Ranma quickly and quietly slipped away, leaving the ladies fighting in the hallway before they took it out on the yard. Meanwhile, Akane Tendo was upstairs, just sitting on her bed, looking at the snow on the ground. Dr. Tofu was coming, as well as Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi and Daisuke. She heard the sound of battle downstairs and sighed. She mentally included into the list all of Ranma's other fiancees. And Mousse and Cologne, probably Happosai would drop by tonight, with Pantyhose running after him. She sighed sadly. It was Christmas, and she felt so lonely. She hadn't ever felt this lonely since Ranma had crashed into her life, but now she felt extremely lonely.  
  
'Pull yourself together!' she told herself. 'Why stay around here, when I could be downstairs... cooking supper!' She immediately brightened up and ran downstairs, past Ranma who was slowly tip toeing up the stairs and straight into the kitchen. Ranma froze. Akane had just run by, and had disappeared into the kitchen! 'Oh, no!' he thought silently. 'Akane's cooking!!!' He crept up to his room, as quietly as possible, when Nabiki came by and looked at him oddly.  
  
"Hello, Ranma." she said. "Why are you tip toeing around like that?" she asked, a sarcastic smile on her face.  
  
"Um, uh, I uh, was practicing! Yeah, practicing, a new technique!!!" said Ranma, quite proud of himself. After all, there was no need to tell Nabiki that this new technique consisted of getting away from all the crazed ladies in the yard fighting around and Akane's cooking.  
  
"O.K." said Nabiki. She smiled. "I'll tell Akane that you went out and that you'll be back in time to welcome our guests, right?" With that she left before he had a chance to say anything. He was just about to shout from exasperation and run after her when he heard another sound.  
  
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" Ranma shivered. There was only one person he knew who laughed like that. He wouldn't dare raise his voice now, lest the girls noticed him. 'This really stinks.' he thought to himself. He once again started going up the stairs, when all of a sudden he heard a sudden 'POOF!' and Akane's screams. He was just about to run and see what was happening, when he heard Kasumi say, "Oh, my!" and the sound of a fire extinguisher. Ranma hid himself and saw a flustered Akane being gently pushed out of the kitchen by Kasumi's gentle hands. She look confused before she ran to get a towel and took it back to the kitchen. After a while, Akane's shouts rang from the house as she struggled to prepare a salad. Ranma shuddered, hoping that the salad would turn out half way edible.  
  
Meanwhile, outside...  
  
"Why stupid spatula girl here?" asked an annoyed Shampoo. "Everything go well until you come. Now Shampoo kill!"  
  
"Look who's talking, sugar!" said Ukyou angrily. "What were you doing to my Ran-chan!"  
  
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" laughed Kodachi. "None of you are worthy of my dear Ranma-sama. I will forever smite you and take Ranma-sama as my own!!!!"  
  
"That's what you think, sugar!" said Ukyou.  
  
"Stupid ribbon girl going to die also!" said Shampoo. With that, the three leapt at each other and started their battle. Kodachi threw off her kimono which happened to land on a hiding Mousse in the bushes and wiped out her ribbon, twirling it in every direction. Shampoo wiped out her bonbori and dodged Ukyou's shuriken spatulas while trying to clobber Kodachi on the head. Ukyou tried to slice Kodachi's ribbon into little bits with her shuriken, while trying to knock of Shampoo's bonboris. All in all, it was quite messy.  
  
It was to this scene that Cologne arrived. She sighed with exasperation as she watched the battle. Trust trouble to follow wherever Shampoo went. Talking about trouble, she spied Mousse jumping from the bushes and charging into the fight with a kimono stuck to his shoe, which made him trip. He finally threw it of and jumped into the battle, shouting, "Don't worry Shampoo! I will protect you!"  
  
"Stupid Mousse! Why you help stupid spatula girl?" shouted an angry Shampoo as he took the bonbori on the head that was meant for Ukyou.  
  
"Oh, Shampoo! I am here to protect you!" said Mousse as he hugged Kodachi. That gave Ukyou the opening she was looking for and belted Kodachi out of there with her huge metal spatula, with Mousse latched on to her.  
  
"Now, sugar, it's just us!" said Ukyou with a wicked smile.  
  
"Shampoo no forgive spatula girl, but glad spatula girl get rid of blind duck-boy and stupid ribbon girl. Now we fight! Hiyaaaaa!" she shouted as she leapt at Ukyou with her bonbori.  
  
Cologne sighed. She pogoed pass them and into the house. She had more important things to do than to interfere into a fight between the two. She passed the kitchen, wondering what the awful racket was and what was burning, knowing for sure it couldn't be Kasumi. Kasumi was gentler and she wouldn't burn things. She sneaked a peak into the room. Kasumi was there, but she looked a little uptight. Cologne saw that she had a good reason also. Akane had somehow gotten the vegetables in the bowl on fire. Probably the oil she had spiked the vegetables with the bottle that was beside her. And probably the small red bottle near her also that looked half used up. She shuddered at the sight and left. Now to find son-in-law. She cackled gleefully. She nodded a hi to Kasumi who acknowledged her and then focused her attention back to the fire that was threatening to burn her chicken.  
  
Cologne went on and soon found Ranma crawling ever so slowly to the front door, where nothing interesting was happening.  
  
"Hello, son-in-law!" she said.  
  
"AHHHH!" shouted Ranma.  
  
"Shush, boy!" said Cologne. "You don't want anyone to know you're here, right?" Mutely, Ranma nodded, a panicked look entering his face. Cologne shook her head. "And here you are, in a tux and crawling on the floor. How pathetic."  
  
"Hey!" said Ranma, insulted. Then he remembered his position and looked around worriedly.  
  
"I'll cut you a deal," said Cologne. "If you promise to marry Shampoo, I won't tell Akane that you think her cooking can be used as nuclear warfare weaponry."  
  
"Hey, I never said that!" said Ranma indignantly.  
  
"She'd probably believe me more than she would you." said Cologne. "Anyway, I just came for this." She reached over and grabbed a few of Ranma's hairs and then pogoed away, laughing evilly.  
  
'That was weird', thought Ranma. Then he froze. 'Oh no! She is going to make a voodoo doll of me and force me to marry Shampoo!' He ran after her thinking, 'I can't let her!' He forgot all about the girls fighting in the back yard, or that Akane was in the kitchen. He leapt on top of buildings so that he could catch up to her.  
  
Cologne was extremely excited. Still, she had to be cautious. She took the hairs and pulled out a bottle of perfume that she had taken from her cupboard. She stopped and viciously shook it, when all of a sudden, she felt Ranma behind her. She looked back, and sure enough, there he was. He had a determined look on his face as he ran toward her. Panic seized Cologne for a few seconds before she ran. Those few seconds caused her hands to become slightly slippery, causing the bottle of perfume to slip from her fingers while she was running. Ranma saw something glinting in the afternoon sun and quickly dived forward to try to catch it before it fell. Obviously, it was something important to Cologne, and he wouldn't let her get it.  
  
"No!" said Cologne as she tried to stop as fast as she could. (Which was a little hard on her stick.)  
  
"Ha!" said Ranma as his hands grabbed the small bottle and promptly turned and ran away as fast as he could. 'Now the old ghoul won't be able to force me to marry Shampoo! However this small bottle is supposed to do that' thought Ranma. He looked behind and saw Cologne running after him. He quickly sped up and hoped against hope that she wouldn't catch up, although he knew for certain that she would. He racked his brains, trying to think of a solution while he jumped over houses and rounded corners in a dizzying manner. 'I have to get rid of the bottle,' thought Ranma. 'That way, even if she catches up to me, she won't get it. But who could I trust?' He mentally ticked off the people he knew. 'Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi, Daisuke? Naw, they won't be able to defend themselves from Cologne. Besides, I don't know where they are. Someone at the house. Father or Uncle Soun? No way! Father would probably give it back to her for something stupid. Kasumi? No, too innocent. Nabiki? No, she'd probably charge me 3,000,000 yen or something. That leaves Akane. At least, Akane won't give it up so easily. Yeah! I'll give it to Akane!' With that brilliant plan, Ranma raced to the Tendo household, with Cologne coming closer and closer to him every second as the snow started to fall on Nerima.  
  
Akane looked proudly at her handy work. It was a brilliant and beautiful lettuce and tomato salad. Actually, it wasn't brilliant, and definitely not beautiful, since her homemade spicy sauce she made last year in Home Ec had been too strong. So the lettuce turned out slightly pink and the tomatoes had burst open, splattering everywhere and jumping into the fire, causing the fire to sizzle and die out, but she was sure it was very edible. Of course, all of these mishaps could be blamed on the people who were fighting in the back yard. I mean, who can concentrate with that awefull racket they were making? Still, Ranma would love it, she was sure of it! 'Why in the world am I thinking about that jerk?' asked Akane to herself. 'He's extremely insensitive has an ego the size of the universe and was the most awful fiancee anyone could have asked for.' Still, she wanted him to try her salad out.  
  
Since she had been so into her thoughts, she didn't notice till to late what had happened. Kasumi had walked out to the yard and was now talking to them.  
  
"Hello, Shampoo, Ukyou, Kodachi, Mousse!" she said brightly to the fighters.  
  
"Um, hi Kasumi!" said Ukyou while keeping an eye on Shampoo.  
  
"Nihao, Kasumi," said Shampoo. "What you want?"  
  
"Well, I was wondering if you would like to spend dinner with us." said Kasumi. "We have quite a bit of food!"  
  
"Spend time with airen?" asked Shampoo as her face brightened into a huge smile. "No need ask. Of course Shampoo attend! Shampoo even make too too delicious ramen!" 'Now I be close to airen and make airen fall in love with Shampoo!' she thought to herself.  
  
"Butt out of this, Shampoo!" shouted Ukyou before putting on a cute smile. "Thanks Kasumi. Don't worry, I'll help and make some special okonomiyakis for all of you!" 'I better go to the bathroom and put on my special perfume,' thought Ukyou wickedly.  
  
"OHOHOHOHOHO!" said Kodachi as she stood up. "I will of course attend and take care of my dear Ranma-sama! I will also call Sazuke to bring some food." 'And before tonight is over, Ranma will be mine!' Mousse got up and rubbed his head in the place where Shampoo had struck him.  
  
"If Shampoo goes, then I too shall go!" said Mousse with fierce determination. Inside, he thought, 'I will be able to show Shampoo how much I love her! And then she'll fall in love with me!' He smiled happily as he followed the rest of the ladies inside. As Kasumi walked inside, Nabiki pulled her aside and whispered something to her quietly. Kasumi nodded and walked over to the kitchen.  
  
"Kasumi," said Akane who had heard what Kasumi had said to the girls. "Why did you invite them?"  
  
"Cheer up, Akane," said Kasumi. "It's Christmas time after all, and we have to show some holiday cheer."  
  
"Still, they'll end up glomping on Ranma and ruining our 'family time'", grumbled Akane. Kasumi smiled cheerfully as she laid the food out carefully.  
  
"Oh, and Nabiki said that Ranma went out to do something." said Kasumi. "Could you go out and look for him to make sure he can receive our guests? He already missed Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse and Kodachi."  
  
"Why do I have to go look for that jerk?" asked Akane crossly.  
  
"Because everyone else is busy," said Kasumi. "... and you already finished cooking." Akane sighed and went to her room to put on a coat since it had started to snow some time ago.  
  
'Baka,' she thought as she trudged down the stairs. 'Why do I have to go out looking for him. And I wanted to help make mashed potatoes.' She walked outside and not knowing where to look, just started walking. She sighed as she strained her ears. Normally, he'd probably at Ucchans or at the Nekohanten, but they were at her place and their restaurants would probably be closed. She walked around and then heard some pounding footsteps, but she couldn't tell where they were from. She checked her watch. She had been looking for him for about fifteen minutes and her patience was wearing thin.  
  
"RANMA!!!!! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU????!!!" she shouted, not caring if anyone thought her weird or noisy. Ranma, who was a few blocks away heard her shout and quickly ran towards the voice, hoping that she didn't walk somewhere else. 'Almost there,' he thought. 'Just have to keep her of my back.' He looked back to see how Cologne was fairing. She had a determined look to her face. Ranma had to get to Akane, and quick.  
  
Akane started to walk back to the Dojo. 'He probably chickened out because he didn't want to receive our guests. How like him!' she thought. She heard the footsteps again, louder this time. She turned around just as Ranma turned the corner, running extremely fast. He quickly shoved in her hand a bottle of perfume.  
  
"SorrygottagoDon'tlettheoldghoulgetthebottle,explaintoyoulaterbye!" he said quickly as he ran by her. Akane quickly pocketed the bottle and stared as Cologne turned the corner split seconds after Ranma had. She pounced on him and he fell forward, which resulted in a mini fight.  
  
"Give me back the bottle, Son in law!"  
  
"Never!"  
  
"You'll regret it, boy! Now give it back!"  
  
"You're crazy!"  
  
Akane watched them for a while before shouting out to Ranma, "Ranma, remember that you have to welcome our guests!!" With that, she turned around and walked back to the Dojo, hoping his tux wouldn't be ruined to badly.  
  
Shampoo quietly sneaked out of the kitchen and tip toed to the bathroom. She entered and closed the door lightly and locked it. No need for everyone to know what she was doing. She took out her bottle and sprayed it generously on herself. She smiled. She had almost gotten Ranma last time. This time, she wouldn't lose. She was still spraying some on her wrists and neck and everywhere else when there was a knock on the door.  
  
"Shampoo almost finish!" she said as she quickly capped her bottle and slipped it into her pocket. She spied a window and quickly opened and closed it quickly, hoping to get some of the perfume smell out. She then walked out and was surprised to see Ukyou, who looked just as surprised.  
  
"Thanks, sugar," said Ukyou to Shampoo, while the two eyed each other suspiciously. Ukyou entered the bathroom and quickly locked the door. She reached into her pant pocket and took out her bottle of perfume. She wasn't going to give that Shampoo a chance to get Ranma. This way, Ranchan would be hers. Now, all she needed to do was to sit close to Ranma. She quickly sprayed it on. She tried to remember where perfume was usually sprayed. Under your armpits? No that was deodorant. Oh well, it didn't matter that much. She sprayed some on there and on her face and neck and arms and would have put on more had someone not knocked.  
  
"Just a minute!" she shouted. She saw the window that Shampoo had accidentally left unbolted. She opened it and try to 'shoo' the smell out. She flushed the toilet and turned on the faucet for a bit so that no one would be too suspicious. She quickly closed the window, but it opened a little. Ukyou had no time to shut it better as Kodachi's voice came.  
  
"Hurry up! Others have to use the bathroom!" Ukyou quickly opened the door and both stared at each other while they passed each other. Kodachi sneaked in and locked the door. She saw the half open window. She quickly opened it more and sprayed her perfume on and ended up using up the whole bottle. She sprayed some on her hair too. She just couldn't wait! Ranma- sama wouldn't know what had hit him. She smiled evilly. She took her time and ended up retouching her make up and fixing her hair. She walked out of the bathroom calmly, feeling like a giddy school girl. She left the window open, since that was how she found it. No need to arouse suspicion. Besides, the room needed airing. Soun entered some minutes later and shivered slightly from the cold as he bolted the window. Who was crazy enough to open the window in this weather?  
  
The guests were beginning to arrive. Ranma and Cologne were still battling. Ranma had somehow moved it closer to the Dojo's entrance, so as the people started to come, he would call out to them, as he was supposed to, "Welcome. Go on in, supper will be ready soon!" Akane watched form her bedroom window and sighed. Ranma was hopeless. She took out of her pocket the bottle that Ranma had pushed into her hand. It was a small bottle of Chinese perfume.  
  
'What's so special about this perfume?' she wondered as she studied it carefully. She carefully uncapped the bottle and wafted it, in case it was some toxic poison that Cologne was planning to use. No, it smelled really good. Unless, of course, it was one of those delayed action thing a ma bobs. She put it on her desk so that she could see it so that she could give it back to Ranma later on. Her new bottle of perfume which she had bought for herself was beside it. She heard Kasumi call that dinner was ready and went down wondering, why Ranma was keeping perfume from Cologne.  
  
As everyone went to the table, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi made a bee line for the seats beside the place where Ranma usually sat. Ranma looked nervously as he realized what they were up to. Hurriedly he looked around, hoping to see a way out. At that moment, Hiroshi and Daisuke came in, opening the door to Yuka and Sayuri. A brilliant idea struck him square in the head as he looked beseechingly at the guys.  
  
"Hey guys! Hiroshi, Daisuke, come in! Here are your seats! He quickly showed them to the two beside his place.  
  
"Hey Ranma! Merry Christmas to you too!" they said. The trio of girls glared at each other and tried to get as close to Ranma as they could. Dr. Tofu entered the house and sat down right across from Ranma just as Shampoo turned in that direction. She snapped her fingers.  
  
"H, H, Hello, K, k, k, Kasumi! Wha, what a surprise, to to to se se, see you here!" said the doctor as Kasumi came out of the kitchen with the food.  
  
"Why hello, Dr. Tofu." said Kasumi with a smile on her face. "Merry Christmas!"  
  
"Oh, yes, Me, me, merry Chri, christmas, Kasumi!" he said to Ranma, who was sitting across from him. He then started to talk to Ukyo, who was sitting on his right. "I didn't realize it was Christmas, Miss Kodachi!" he said. Ukyo sighed. It was going to be a long night. She hoped the perfume wasn't too strong as she seemed to be able to smell it everywhere.  
  
Dinner was O.K. Kasumi's cooking turned out just like always, perfect. It would have been perfect except for the extremely sweet perfume he kept on smelling and the surprise dish that Akane had made. Akane's cooking was the same as always... which is to say, not too good. Akane stood up and went inside to the kitchen and brought out a glass bowl that looked sort of... odd.  
  
'It's a weird looking glass bowl,' thought Ranma to himself. And indeed, it was very weird. The sides were extremely wavy and the glass looked like it had air bubbles that popped, leaving behind a small round imprint, giving it it's abnormal shape. And what was weirder than that, were the vegetables? inside of it. It seemed like a lettuce and tomato salad, except of course, that it was all red.  
  
"Um, what is that?" asked Ranma nervously, knowing deep inside that he would have to take a bite out of that aweful... whatever it was.  
  
"It's salad, baka!" said Akane crossly as she set the bowl down. Kasumi brought out some styrofoam bowls.  
  
"Here, Akane," she said with a pained smile.  
  
"Thanks, Kasumi!" said Akane happily. She took a metal spoon and scooped out a generous portion. Everyone winced inwardly when the metal started to steam and turn black, as if something acidic had touched it. She dumped it into the bowl and set it in front of Ranma.  
  
"Here, Ranma! Try some!" she said with a happy smile. Ranma looked at his bowl. The tomatos started to steam and as he poked them around, he noticed that they seemed to have melted the styrofoam, leaving behind little imprints of semi spheres. He moved them around so as to not have them burn a hole through the plastic with his wooden chopsticks. He winced as the chopsticks themselves started to look a bit...brown.  
  
'That explains the curious shape of the bowl,' he thought to himself. He was feeling very weird. Almost as if he were watching himself look at the bowl of 'vegetables'. He heard Shampoo speak.  
  
"Stupid tomboy no poison husband!" she said in her broken Japanese. Everything slowed down as Akane and Shampoo had a staring contest. Finally, Akane got a wicked smile on her face.  
  
"Oh, Shampoo!" she said with a false smile. Shampoo started to get nervous. Akane usually didn't act like that. "I didn't know you loved Ranma so much that you would eat whatever he eats. Here, be my guest!" And with that, she scooped three full spoons of salad into another bowl and set it in front of Shampoo. A stunned Shampoo looked at her bowl of red stuff that steamed. "Anyone else want some more?" asked Akane with a hint of menace in her voice. Ukyo and Kodachi who had looked like they wanted to lash out at Akane, immediatly shut up and looked down at their plates. Akane smiled at Shampoo before turning back her attention on Ranma. She knew how they hated her cooking, but she hoped Ranma would like it. Besides, if Shampoo had something in her mouth, then she wouldn't talk as much.  
  
"Well, Ranma?" she asked. "Why don't you try some? I'm sure you'll like it!" She looked extremely hopeful. Ranma sighed and tried to muster up his courage to put 'it' into his mouth. Behind Akane, he could see his father holding one of his panda sign's even though he was not one in his current state. The sign said, Be a man, Try her cooking He then switched it over. Love always touches ones heart flip Go on boy, eat up!  
  
Ranma took a bit of the lettuce? in his chopstick and slowly brought it up to his mouth. Everybody watched him silently. Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo were all fretting since they didn't want Ranma to die on them before they tried out their new perfume on him. Nabiki watched expectantly, wanting to know how much Ranma could take before he had to run to the bathroom or sink. Kasumi had a small smile on her face, the same as always. Soun and Genma looked the same as always. Soun behind his newspaper and Genma stuffing his face. Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi and Daisuke looked on with amasement in their eyes. They knew how bad Akane's cooking was and were surprised that Ranma might eat it. Tofu was talking to Betty, who he just happened to bring. Yuka spoke up to try to break the tension.  
  
"Hey, Akane!" she said. "That looks extremely... different! What is in it?" Hopefully, if they knew the ingredients, the tension in the room would lessen. Akane beamed a huge smile at her.  
  
'Finally!' she thought. 'Someone who appreciates my cooking!' She spoke out loud. "Well, it's the normal lettuce and tomato salad..." she began.  
  
'Yeah right!' thought Ranma. 'If that's normal, I'm the green easter bunny from Mars!' Akane continued on.  
  
"...but since it looked a little boring, I decided to add something to spice it up. I added tofu, bean sprouts, three dollops of honey, two table spoons of barbecue sauce, three cups of viniger and two spoonfulls of coffee beans, three cups of chopped liver and strawberries, celery, eggplant..."  
  
Ranma and everybody else got greener and greener at the mention of each new ingredient.  
  
"...and finally," said Akane. "I drained most of the liquid before I used some of the spice sauce we made in Home Economics class." It took a while for Sayuri's brain to register that piece of information.  
  
"But," she said. "You're not taking Home Ec. this year. Yuka and I are, but you arent'." Yuka nodded.  
  
"Right!" said Akane. "But I was there last year. Remember the chili and avocado sauce the teacher had us do to put on our Mexican food?" A few nods from Yuka and Sayuri. "Well, I didn't feel like wasting it, so I decided to save it for a special occasion. I put most of it into the salad! Don't you think that that was a clever idea!?!?" asked Akane cheerfully. Everyone paled considerably. Who knows what might have happened to chili and avocado sauce a la Akane after one year who knows where!? Ranma sighed and knew he was doomed. Doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed. Doomed in capital letters, etc. etc.  
  
'Might as well get it over with,' he thought resignedly. He slowly brought the chopsticks up and put it into his mouth. Strange emotions flashed through him, flavors playing havoc with his senses, especially his tounge. For a minute, he could almost taste individually everything that Akane had put into it. Funny, he didn't remember Akane saying that she had put in mustard and peanuts blended with apple. His head whirled and he felt himself put his chopsticks down on top of his bowl, sign that he didn't want anymore. He saw people standing up and crying out something he couldn't quite make out for it sounded distorted. He noticed things subconciously, like the smile that was on Akane's face, the shape of the tomato on his bowl, the extremely sweet smell that seemed to be everywhere, the same as Shampoo's perfume. He could also smell it on Ukyo and Kodachi, he thought. He saw his life flash before his eyes and said the only thing he could think of.  
  
"Uncute....tomboy!" he said as he stood up shakily. Akane's face turned from happy to furious.  
  
"Ranma no baka!!!" she shouted, hoping nobody noticed the tears that fell from her eyes. She moved her hand in a specific way and summoned her hammer, the biggest one they had seen yet. With all of her strenght she hit him, sending him straight into the kitchen. Her mallet dissappeared as she turned from the table and ran up the stairs to her room. Shampoo looked dubiously at her plate and while everyone was distracted, she dumped it back into the glass bowl. Retching sounds could be heard from the kitchen as Kasumi and Dr. Tofu ran into the kitchen to see what had happened. That was obviously the wrong thing to do since Dr. Tofu promptly lost it and Kasumi had to be gently taken out of the kitchen by Ukyo and Kodachi so that Ranma could be properly examined. The rest of the people shrugged and kept on with eating their supper, carefull to not eat any vegetable from the bowl. After all, this was pretty normal in the Tendo household. Ranma went out of the kitchen looking slightly pale from his near encounter with death and acted like nothing had happened by beggining to start shoveling food into his mouth. Only Kasumi had noticed Akane's pained expression as she flew up to her room. She worried inwardly over Akane and after she had cleaned things up, she went to Akane's room. After dinner had finished, she invited the guests to join them as they went Christmas caroling. Her invitation was accepted with great enthusiasm by the three fiancees and Tofu who promptly strapped Betty on his back and started to do an irish jig by the door to the kitchen while singing 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star'. Everyone else looked at the ones who accepted and promptly declined, saying that they were going home. Nabiki, Ranma, Soun and Genma went to their rooms to bundle up against the cold. Ukyo, wanting to prove that she was the best fiance for Ranma volenteered to do the dishes. Shampoo and Kodachi glared at her and promptly volunteered also, although Shampoo concentrated on drying the dishes.  
  
Kasumi walked softly to Akane's door and put her ear on the door, trying to find out if Akane was alright. She heard some small sobs, but it seemed like she had calmed down. She knocked softly on the door.  
  
"Who is it?" asked Akane from inside as she tried to control her sniffs.  
  
"It's me, Kasumi." she said softly.  
  
"Come in." answered Akane. The door opened slightly and Kasumi slipped in and quickly shut the door after her. The room was dark, since Akane hadn't turned the lights on. Kasumi turned on the desk lamp. The light softly colered the room. Akane was on her bed, the sheets and pillows in disarray. Her eyes were slightly red, evidence that she had been crying for a small while.  
  
"Hey, Akane," said Kasumi softly. "We'll be leaving to go Christmas caroling soon. Why don't you get ready?"  
  
"I don't feel like going," said Akane sullenly. Kasumi looked at her with her warm eyes. Suddenly Akane sat up on her bed. "Am I such an aweful cook?" she asked. Kasumi thought about it for a while. She sat down beside Akane and hugged her.  
  
"No, you're not aweful," said Kasumi. "but you aren't that good either." Akane sighed and her shoulders slumped. It was as if she had almost expected that to be said. Kasumi kept on talking. "Sure, perhaps cooking is not for you, but that doesn't mean you'll never learn. What is important is to keep on trying."  
  
"But I always try and try and try," said Akane. "And it never comes out right. He always hates it. I can tell by reading his eyes. And yet, I always try, perhaps, I might..."  
  
"Akane," said Kasumi. "I'm sure he appreciates what you do for him. But you have to understand that just because he can't swallow it, he doesn't appreciate it. And there are many things you can do very well."  
  
"Like?" asked Akane. "I can't sew. Even a scarf ends up looking like a rag. I'm not as good as they are in martial arts. They are faster, and stronger, better cooks... things that Ranma seems to like, I'm not good at!"  
  
"Perhaps you're not as good in those areas," said Kasumi. "but you have your own gifts and talents. You're a great actress."  
  
"So is Ranma." said Akane sullenly.  
  
"You persevere, no matter how the odds are against you. You lifted daddy's heart after mom's loss by giving him a reason to live when you started to get interested in martial arts. Perhaps Nabiki's ways are a little under handed, but you two make a good profit that keeps the house going. And you know what else?"  
  
Akane had started to look a bit better and was hugging Kasumi back.  
  
"What?" asked Akane.  
  
"You have the best voice I've ever heard and you are my little sister." Kasumi smiled at Akane as Akane hugged her harder.  
  
"Thanks, Kasumi," she said. "You really helped me a lot."  
  
"No problem," said Kasumi. "Now, what are you going to wear?"  
  
"Um, I haven't thought about it." said Akane. "I was planning on a pair of jeans and a jacket."  
  
"But we're going caroling!" said Kasumi. She opened Akane's dresser and looked through her clothes. "Here, how about these?" She held up a pants and shirt combo. The pants were a dark jungle green pair of jeans with a pair of cherries embroidered on the pockets. The shirt was a white blouse with a collar.  
  
"I'd probably end up freezing if I wore just that," said Akane as she got up of her bed and grabbed a half hidden winter coat with a hood. It was red with gold trim.  
  
"Oh," said Kasumi. "That's Sayuri and Yuka's Christmas present, right?"  
  
"Yeah," said Akane. "It'll be the first time I wear it. I like how it looks." She quickly dressed and put on a pair of low heeled black boots.  
  
"And to finish," said Kasumi. She saw the bottle of perfume on top of Akane's desk and grabbed that. She uncapped it and sprayed a bit on Akane. "It smells very nice, don't you think, Akane?"  
  
"Yeah," said Akane. She turned around as Kasumi put the bottle back. "Thanks Kasumi. Now go and get dressed." Kasumi smiled and left the room, glad that her sister was feeling better. She quickly went to her room and got ready. Akane smiled as she heard her older sister whistle cheerfully once again. She sat in front of her mirror and carefully brushed it. She left the the room, with out looking at the bottles of perfume.  
  
Akane went down to the dining room once more, feeling more composed. Kasumi had been right, there were things that she could do. Unfortunatly, she couldn't think of them now. 'It doesn't matter,' she thought. 'I'll remember them soon enough!' She went downstairs and started to gather all the plates. In the middle of the table was the warped glass bowl. She blinked back a few tears as she took the bowl to the kitchen, where she promptly dumped its contents in a plastic bag right before throwing that into the trashcan. 'There goes that,' she thought, almost sadly. Still, one had to buck up and smile...which she tried to do. She quickly went outside where she gathered more bowls and plates to take in to the kitchen.  
  
Ranma came down after changing clothes. He had changed from his tux into something more comfortable. He wore his blue chinese shirt and black pants. He wore a black jacket over the shirt. As he looked at Akane, he felt a little sad. For some reason, he understood that she hadn't meant to poison him and he felt bad for calling her uncute. He went down and quietly helped her put away the dishes. The two worked silently, each thinking silently. 'She isn't mad at me, she isn't yelling either.' thought Ranma. 'I wonder if she's o.k.' Meanwhile, Akane's thoughts...'He hasn't insulted my cooking yet. Wonder what's wrong with him.'  
  
"Hey, Akane," said Ranma quietly. There was a sweet smell in the air it seemed.  
  
"Yes?" asked Akane as she turned to face him. 'Gosh, she looks good in that,' thought Ranma. 'Almost, kawaii.'  
  
"Thanks for making me the salad." Ranma heard himself say. "I'm sorry I didn't finish it and that I called you an uncute tomboy." Akane was suprised to say the least. She blushed a little.  
  
"You're...umh...uh...welcome," she whispered quietly as she gave him a smile. Ranma felt himself blush as he looked at her smile. 'Yep,' he thought. 'She definately looks cute.'  
  
Author's Notes...  
  
Well, that's it for now... I was planning for it to be a one shot, but then decided to post it like this.... I have a major writer's block.... (ouch!!) C&C would be extremely welcome, so send away, please????  
  
Hope you enjoyed the story. I'm an R/A person, can you tell? Don't kill me, pleas? (again...) Oh, BTW, the story was started by Asayogure-san (like the first two or three paragraphs) and I wrote the rest. It was part of a competition... anyway, I know it's a Christmas story and that Christmas just passed, but I decided to post it now... I know, I'm weird...  
  
Well, till next time...  
  
Hotaru Kimiko Lai  
  
"If it weren't for last minutes, nothing would get done." --Anonymous 


	2. Calm Before the Songs...

Love is in the Air: A Christmas Story  
  
Chapter 2: Calm Before the Songs...(Version 2.1)  
  
Disclaimer...  
  
Unfortunately, I don't have a huge cabinet full of witty and interesting disclaimers... gomen.... so, you'll be stuck with my boring ones. Here goes!!!! I don't own Ranma 1/2. Isn't that sad???? All characters are property of Ms. Rumiko Takahashi... isn't she awesome!!!!! ^o^ *Waves flag....GO RUMIKO!!!* Anyway, that's that, you all know this, no need to repeat it....  
  
Note before beginning...  
  
Ahum.... I, Hotaru Kimiko Lai, do offer my most sincere thank yous to all the wonderful and cool and intelligent and smart, and good looking people who reviewed this fic. How do I know their characteristics??? Simple, only wonderful and cool and intelligent and smart and good looking people would review... just kidding....^^;; Anyway, my most sincere thanks to all of you out there who are reading this and are wondering, "When is the stupid story going to start????!!!!" THANX, THANX, THANX, THANX!  
  
You all deserve a cookie, so consider yourself given a cookie... Any one you like, no matter the cost (it can be one worth three million dollars for all I care...) Now on with the story!!!!  
  
_______________________________________  
  
Begin.  
  
_______________________________________  
  
The two stood there silently, not knowing what to do. Ranma was not sure of himself. One minute, he felt like running away from her, but the next, he realized he wanted to be beside her. There was an awkward silence in the air, both standing under Kasumi's sprig of mistletoe, but neither noticing it.  
  
'What in the world is he waiting for????' thought Akane to herself. 'He's just standing there... What bug bit him? He's been acting weird ever since eating.... Oh no...' The most horrifying thought sped across her mind. What if... her cooking had done something to him. Perhaps it had erased part of his memory and he forgot how to insult her. 'Not that that is so bad....' or perhaps, it made him stupid.... 'Wait, he was already stupid.' Whatever it was, it was her fault... Great, she had really messed it up this time. Tears started to gather in her eyes. It wasn't fair! She hadn't meant for this to happen!  
  
Meanwhile...Ranma....  
  
'What the heck should I do?' he thought worriedly. Darn it, there it was again, that stupid sticky perfume smell. How he.... loved the perfume that came from Akane. It was exquisite, yet delicate, alluring, but sincere. It was so like Akane, it fit her perfectly. With a start, he realized that he had just learned to like the perfume, just because Akane had put it on. 'I'm going crazy,' he thought to himself. 'Not that everyone else would care, except.... Akane...' *click* 'What the heck is that sound?' thought Ranma. It sounds like...  
  
His thoughts were interrupted as Akane all of a sudden turned away from him and ran away from him. He caught the sight of crystalline tears falling from her brown orbs as she turned. They sparkled like glittering diamonds in the afternoon sun. 'Kawaii...' he thought, before he realized that she was crying. That snapped him back to reality.  
  
"Akane!!!" he said as he ran after her. "What's wrong?" But Akane didn't answer him, and kept on running. He ran even faster and soon caught up with her. By that time, they were out of the Tendo dojo and in one of the streets around the place. He grabbed her arm and brought her to him. He hugged her softly, as if slightly unsure of what he was doing. The snow had stopped for a while, but the streets were white with freshly fallen snow.  
  
Akane's mind was thrown in turmoil. One minute, she was running as fast as she could, the next, she was being held in Ranma's arms, almost as if he were... worried about her. *click*  
  
"What do you want?" she asked him, not looking at him. Ranma was stuck.... he didn't know what the heck he was doing. This was the first time he caught a girl and held her like this.  
  
'AAAAHHH!! What do I do now??', he thought desperately. Another voice inside him answered.  
  
'Tell her you're worried, baka! What else?'  
  
'But then, she'll clobber me and call me a pervert or something...'  
  
'But she hasn't called you pervert yet...'  
  
'But....'  
  
'No buts, or are you a chicken?'  
  
'Am not!'  
  
'Are too!'  
  
'Am not!'  
  
'Fine, prove it!'  
  
'Fine, I will!' There was silence and a pause...  
  
'Well? I'm waiting...'  
  
'Let me think, will ya!!!?'  
  
'Sure, but hurry, Akane is getting suspicious.' And she was. Akane's confusion was slowly but surely turning to righteous fury.  
  
"Ranma," she said with false sweetness. "You have fifteen seconds to explain what in the world you are doing starting from now... or else, I personally will cream you and then punt you to the stratosphere." Ranma froze. He had to think quick.  
  
'Quick! Just tell her you're worried about her!' said the annoying little voice in his brain. He decided to take the advice.  
  
"I,... uh... I..." he started.  
  
"Yes Ranma?" she asked, her patience running out like a bucket with half the bottom missing.  
  
"iwasworriedaboutyou." he said quickly. And then, he crossed his toes, since he was still holding Akane.  
  
"Fine, Ranma no...." started an angry Akane. "wait... what did you say?"  
  
"iwasworriedaboutyou." he said just as fast.  
  
"You're worried?" she asked, half surprised. The mallet that had begun to materialize abruptly disappeared. She turned in his arms. *click* "Why?" Ranma gulped. He... he... he really liked how she felt in his arms. He blushed lightly and tried to ignore his burning cheeks.  
  
"Because... I do," he said softly. Akane sniffled, and hugged him a little, still a bit shy.  
  
"But... but, I..." she started. Ranma tried to shush her, but she kept on. "I know this isn't you, Ranma," she said tearfully. "I'm so sorry, I never meant for it to happen! I promise I'll never cook again!" Ranma was stunned, how did they jump from hugging to talking about her cooking?  
  
"What?" asked Ranma. "I don't understand."  
  
"Of course you don't," said Akane, her tears forgotten. "I gave you amnesia!"  
  
"..." said Ranma intelligently.  
  
"Well, selective amnesia," said Akane. She stepped back from him and looked at him critically in the eye. Somehow, a drastic change had come over her, and she was now standing, with her arms crossed in front of her, looking very serious and almost... professional. Ranma was now extremely puzzled. Very. Really. How in the world did they go from comforting, to hugging, to cooking and now to amnesia... It was a bit hard to follow Akane's logic. Akane kept on.  
  
"I know you probably don't believe me," she said with a tutor like voice, as if she were a teacher to a pre kinder gardener. "But I gave you selective amnesia with my food. I still haven't been able to identify the actual ingredient to actually cause such a cerebral change in your system. After all, you've always been unaffected by my cooking... I don't understand how it could happen.... although I bet the peanut butter with chocolate ice-cream had something to do with it..." She would have kept on, had Ranma not silenced her.  
  
"Um,... excuse me... " said Ranma. "... but I think I would have known if I had selective amnesia."  
  
"Of course you wouldn't, baka," said Akane. Her face scrunched up cutely as she studied him and looked into his eyes to see if there was a sign of sickness in them. "Anyway, I think it'd be better if I took you to Tofu's office, 'K?"  
  
"But there's nothing wrong with me!!!!" said Ranma. "I know how amnesia feels like..."  
  
"Yeah, right," said Akane as she grabbed his arm and promptly began to drag him in the general direction of the street. "Now, stop whining and get moving. Besides, what happens if the you don't remember, is because the amnesia erased exactly that part of the brain. Imagine what will happen???"  
  
"But, Akane!" said Ranma as he resisted her attempts to pull him to the Doctor's office. "Why in the world do you think I have amnesia????"  
  
"No, not amnesia," said Akane as she unsuccessfully tried to pull him along. "It's selective amnesia!" She got closer to him and looked him in the eye. Very close... "I know it's hard to believe, but you do. Don't you believe me?" Ranma thought for a while, as hard as he could... why couldn't they go back to almost hugging, that was very nice. The smell of her perfume swirled around him, and he felt as if he would be intoxicated by the exquisite tangyness of the perfume. This time, the perfume seemed playful, enchanting... he would willingly drown in it forever, if he got to be with Akane... A part of him snapped. He smiled gently at her and slowly wrapped his arms around her. Akane eeped, and blushed bright crimson. To Ranma's eyes, it made her look even cuter. "Um, Ranma," started Akane. But Ranma ignored her and hugged her to him. Akane's worry turned to confusement, which turned to embarrassment which very soon turned to... yup, you guessed it, anger...  
  
"Ranma, will you please explain to me, what in the world you are doing????" she asked threateningly.  
  
"Aren't I allowed to hug my inaazuke??" he asked gently. That seemed to shut Akane up. Akane looked up at his eyes, fear in her eyes. Ranma read the unasked question and smiled gently. "I see, you think I have amnesia, because I'm treating you differently..., right?" Akane felt speechless. She didn't know what in the world had come over Ranma, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Did she really want to give him his memory back? After all, he was treating her much, much better... but... wouldn't that be selfish of her part?  
  
'It would be,... very selfish of my part,... and unfair for him," she thought, her eyes tearing up once again. She wouldn't allow that to happen.  
  
"Akane, what's wrong?" he asked gently as he noticed her tears falling gently down her rosy cheeks. He wiped her tears away with his fingers. She stared at him, with the saddest eyes he had ever seen.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ranma," she said softly. "But it wouldn't be fair for you. I'm so sorry, I never meant for all of this to happen,..." She started to sniff a little and materialized her hammer out of nowhere and gave him a hard one over the head. The last thing Ranma saw before darkness overwhelmed him, were Akane's silver tears on her red cheeks.  
  
Author's notes...  
  
Well, pardon for the long time between writing and for the short chapter. I've been bombarded with the bane of all authors (or at least me...) ,... homework... ugh... *shudder*  
  
Well.... this chapter was supposed to be on them caroling, but that will be next chapter. I felt like I should put up something quick, because I'll be taking a trip to play in a band concert (no, not rock...), and unfortunately, won't have time to write much... I know... that's very sad...  
  
Anyway, as always, Read and Review... please???? And if you really, really, really, really want to flame me, well, I can't do much about it, right??? But any comments and criticisms, good or bad, would be extremely welcome. And once again, thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. You are all extremely cool!!!!!!!!!  
  
As you might know, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but,... oh well.... next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it out. The next one should be about them Caroling... should.... you never know with author's...^o^  
  
Hotaru Kimiko Lai  
  
Quote for the Chapter...  
  
"Often you must turn your stylus to erase, if you hope to write anything worth a second reading."  
  
-Horace  
  
Thank you to all you reviewers, who like this story... your comments are a treasured memory for me!!! HKL  
  
PS,... no, I didn't turn the computer upside down to write the story... ^^  
  
PPS... And to "lija" thank you for your comments, I think I fixed the mistake. Thanks for telling me...^o^ 


	3. Afternoon Talks

Love is in the Air: A Christmas Story  
  
Chapter 3: Afternoon Talks... a semi-calm interlude before the storm (Version 3.1)  
  
By the Sneaky Chibi Otaku Geek (Um... that's me... Hotaru Kimiko Lai...^.^;; )  
  
Disclaimer...  
  
I don't own Ranma 1/2 or any of its awesome characters... *sniff, sniff* But I'll keep on trying. After all, the saying goes, "If at first you don't succeed, try and try and bake apple pies again!!!!" Wait... that's not how it goes... "If at first you don't succeed... fry the fly again..." "If at first you don't succeed, fly through the sky again..." Oh well... you get the point. Now, where was I???? Oh yeah!! Ms. Rumiko Takahashi, I'm writing to you again, since I think my past twenty five letters have not been received by you. I'm writing concerning one of your original creations, Ranma 1/2...  
  
Notes before beginning...  
  
Some of you wrote questions, and so here I am, trying to answer them... and thanks for your interest!!!!! The world is full of cool people, and you guys are part of the group!!! (OK,... I think I calmed down a bit... Any of you have tried Tobleron chocolate... ummm...yummy.... I want some....like...now!!!...)  
  
01.) I'm Asian, but live in Ecuador. (South America, under Columbia, and above Peru.) So please excuse my grammar mistakes. I try hard to spot them all, but alas... one or two (or three, or four or five... or five million) always seem to escape... sigh... ^-^  
  
02.) To Mana~Chan: Hotaru Kimiko is my pen name.... Lai is my last name, and I'm not Viet. It's so cool, we have the same last names!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
03.) To Suya: Unfortunately, I had to stop there... cause I got an awful writer's block... but now... I'm back!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  
  
04.) To Lord Specter: You gave me the most awesome idea!!!! Now to add it into the story... Thank you so much!!!! I'm feeling extremely excited... woohoo!!! (It'll come in later chapters...)  
  
05.) To whoever is wondering... Hotaru means firefly... the name can be used for both guy or girl... but I'm a girl... just in case you wanted to know...  
  
06.) And to all of you who reviewed and gave such wonderful notes of encouragement... this chapter goes to you guys!!!!!  
  
07.) Interesting fact for the day... guess how long it took me to work on the first chapter???? Answer at the end of the story!!! ^.~ ;;  
  
08.) I found a really cool smiley face!!!!! Here it is!!! Thanks, Rei for teaching it to me!!!! Â¬.Â¬  
  
09.) And to Rei* (the mummified otaku of death) and QD-chan and Sakura P- Chan for all your encouragement!!!  
  
10.) And to Sakura P-Chan for giving me the nickname, the Sneaky Chibi Otaku Geek.. Isn't she so cute? ^^  
  
11.) And finally, the last note!!!! Happy Early Chinese New Years!!!!!!!!!!! (It's celebrated, this year, on the 12th-14th. Welcome to the year of the horse!!!!!!!!! Here's a little present for all of you!!!!  
  
  
  
_______________________________________  
  
Begin.  
  
_______________________________________  
  
Ranma woke up. He opened his eyes. His head felt like exploding, so he quickly closed his eyes. Ouch... that had hurt.... where was he??? Last thing he remembered... oh yeah... Akane had hit him with her mallet... again... how could he care so much for such an uncute tomboy... OK, maybe not uncute... but tomboy none the less. He strained his ears as he heard some people talking quietly. Ranma concentrated as hard as he could with his throbbing headache. He couldn't recognize any of the voices, though... they were speaking too softly.  
  
"Are you sure he's OK?"  
  
"Yes, I'm very sure."  
  
"And about what I asked you?"  
  
"Nothing wrong with him that I could tell."  
  
"Absolutely sure??"  
  
"As sure as I can be under the circumstances."  
  
"Oh...I'm sorry."  
  
"Now, don't worry. Just be careful next time."  
  
"And it's nice to see you so worried about him."  
  
"..."  
  
"Don't worry, everything will be fine. He's very lucky to have someone like you care for him."  
  
"..."  
  
"If it makes you feel better, you can come see him for a while. I'm almost positive he'll be OK."  
  
"Almost positive?"  
  
"He might have a concussion... but I don't think so... Ranma's tough."  
  
"We hadn't noticed."  
  
"But can I go see him?"  
  
"Of course... come with me."  
  
There were some footsteps coming his way, so he pretended to be sleeping. Stupid person inside his skull, stop smashing watermelons in there!!! Some people are trying to fall asleep... or at least pretend.  
  
"Oh... Dr. Tofu." said one voice. He placed the name... Akane. "It was nice to now that she was worried about him. Now, if only he could sort some things out...  
  
"Yes, Akane?" asked the kind doctor.  
  
"Do you think he'll be able to go caroling with us?" asked Akane.  
  
"Perhaps..." said Dr. Tofu. "I think he'll be fine."  
  
"Yeah..." said Akane. "He usually gets healed very quickly. And I did just hit him on the head with my hammer. He should be up in no time."  
  
"That's right," said Tofu. "After all, he is very strong. Why don't you wait for him at your place? I'll run a few tests on him and then let him out, as soon as he wakes up, of course, and then send him to the dojo."  
  
"Thank you," said Akane. "Dr. Tofu, thank you so much for everything." With that, she left to wait outside with the mysterious third person Ranma had heard.  
  
"You can wake up now, Ranma," said Dr. Tofu. "Akane was outside..."  
  
"How did you know I was up?" asked Ranma as he got up slowly and owlishly blinked his eyes.  
  
"I'm a doctor... I should know," said Dr. Tofu with a smile. "Here, I have to run a few tests on you." Ranma nodded as the doctor took out a clipboard.  
  
"By the way, Dr. Tofu," started Ranma as he leaned forward to allow the doctor to check his head. "What happened after Akane hit me???"  
  
"Apparently, she hit you a hard one on the head, so that she could drag you here to get you checked up. Nabiki ran across her and helped her drag you here." said Tofu as he made some marks in his clipboard. "By the way, Ranma, could you tell me what got Akane so worried? She was very disturbed."  
  
"I don't understand her sometimes, Dr. Tofu," said Ranma. "Sometimes, she's really nice to me, and sometimes, she tortures me with her so called 'cooking', and sometimes, she gets really angry at me, usually because she thinks I'm cheating on her or something. I don't know what to expect from her. One moment, she's yelling at me because I call her names. Then there are times I try to be nice and try to please her, but she then thinks I'm sick, or something like that."  
  
"So, what did you do this time?" asked the doctor as he checked Ranma's pulse.  
  
"I... I don't know... I was nice to her... at least, I tried to." said Ranma. He explained. "I helped her clean up the place, tried her cooking, and then,... well, I said that I was... um... sorry for what happened at supper. And I don't understand it!!! All of a sudden... it was like if I didn't want her to think that I hated her or something... I wanted her to know that... that I... I do care for her. It's just hard for me to show her...."  
  
"Have you told her this?" asked Tofu as he put his clipboard away and drew a chair to sit in front of Ranma.  
  
"No, not really." said Ranma sadly as he looked out the window. The snow had stopped, but the air was still chilly. "She'd probably think I was sick. Today, she thought I had selective amnesia... or something like that."  
  
"No wonder Akane wanted me to perform some tests on you." said Dr. Tofu. He studied Ranma carefully for a few seconds. Ranma fidgeted nervously. "Let me tell you something."  
  
"What?" asked Ranma.  
  
"From my point of view, you aren't the only one who has trouble expressing themselves. Akane has also had troubles with expression. But don't give up... after all... you'll be caroling with her in a few minutes..."  
  
"Huh???" asked Ranma. He didn't understand Tofu... but oh well... "OK, I better get back to the dojo and change into something cleaner..." Dr. Tofu nodded and Ranma left.  
  
Akane walked home slowly, thinking over what had happened that day. It had started out fine, or so it seemed. She had woken up early, practiced some martial arts, gone jogging and finished tying up Christmas presents... that afternoon, she had gotten the chance to cook, and she ended up cooking the salad... the same salad that caused Ranma's amnesia. In a way, she was sort of glad, after all, he was nicer to her... like, way nicer. But still, she could probably guess that he wouldn't want to get too friendly to her... after all, as soon as their parent's found out... it'd be time for rings to be exchanged. Now, how in the world was she going to give Ranma back his memory. Maybe she could hit him on the head... had worked before, when Ranma slipped into the pond... of course, he had thought that he was a girl... Maybe she could... do it the same way Ranma had done it to her when she had lost her memory. She could insult him like crazy till he remembered. Of course, she wasn't one to go around insulting people with out a cause.... but, she had to do something... and the beginnings of a plan appeared in her head. She smiled happily (or wickedly, depending on your point of view...) and ran to the kitchen. But first, to the bathroom to wash!  
  
Kodachi came back from her home and waited at the Tendo's house till the rest of the people were ready. She was the first one, it seemed, and was quite proud of it... now, where in the world was her Ranma-sama??? She had to be close to him for the perfume to work... she walked around the house and finally decided to go out... perhaps he was in the dojo or something. After all, her Ranma-sama did enjoy to work out so much... While she was in the dojo, Ranma walked into the house, oblivious to Kodachi's whereabouts and thinking on what Dr. Tofu had told him.  
  
A little time after Ranma had entered the house to go and think. While doing that, he decided to change clothes, since his were a bit dirty from all that had happened that afternoon.  
  
Ukyo snuck into the house.  
  
'Ranchan...' she thought. 'Where are you??? I have to get this over with as soon as I can, so that the other hussies won't have a chance. Now where are you???' She sneaked silently around the house before giving up... for a while. She checked to make sure no one was there and dug a perfume bottle out of her pocket. When she was sure no one was looking, she quickly sprayed some on.  
  
From the shadows, a pair of eyes narrowed.  
  
Shampoo crept into the house through the back. She had run home to tell her great grandmother that she'd go caroling with the Tendos. For some reason, she found Cologne muttering as she looked through old scrolls in an ancient and arcane language.  
  
She had an extra huge smile as she looked for Ranma. She had to find him as quick as she could. Shampoo paused as she passed near the kitchen. There was a weird and curious sound emanating from the kitchen.... what could it be??? Curious, she peaked into the room, and her face turned into the color of fermented vanilla yogurt (OK, how about pale white???). Her mind stopped working as she tried to piece together how this could be happening. Ukyo just happened to come by and saw Shampoo staring into the kitchen. She too, tip toed quietly there to see what was happening. What she saw also made her speechless. A few minutes later, Kodachi bounded into the hallway and was about to laugh when something stopped her. There was a sound... very peculiar it was, for it sounded so familiar. And it was coming from the kitchen. So with quietness that she many times practiced, and on limber feet, flew across the hall to see what was in the kitchen and joined the other girls in a no-blink contest...  
  
Ranma was the last one to get there. He passed by the hallway and saw them all looking inside the kitchen. He panicked and tried as best he could to walk slowly away from the volatile girls. Unfortunately, he stepped on one of the few creaky steps of the house. He froze and his eyes widened. He hopped no one had noticed him... unfortunately, they did. Ukyo looked up and mouthed "Ranchan!!!" to him. With quick gestures, she motioned for him to join them, but quietly. Ranma nodded and slowly tried to get there. It was a little hard, since there was a voice in the air, and that made it hard to concentrate. When he finally got there, he peaked into the kitchen with the rest. His mouth hung open as he stared at the scene inside the kitchen...  
  
Author's Notes....  
  
You know, I'm beginning to enjoy cliff hangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, what did Ranma and Company see that got them so surprised????? Welllllllllllllll........ you'll have to wait a few weeks.... ^.^  
  
Oh well, how do you guys like it so far? Yeah, this chapter is a tad bit short again.... gomen!!!!!!! ^.^;;  
  
Anyway... oh yeah... the question up above.... here's the answer.... I took one, whole, entire, silly year to get the first chapter written!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable, huh??? But I did.... Well, it might not have been a year, but from the day I started it and to the day I put in the last word, it was about a year....hehe...really!!!  
  
What else... suggestions??? Comments??? Criticisms??? Reviews??? (hint, hint, hint...) Thank you to all you who are reading this... you're all fantastic!!!!!!!!  
  
Hotaru Kimiko  
  
Quotes for the chapter...  
  
"When you are real, you can never be ugly except to people who don't understand."  
  
- The Old Skin Horse from the Velveteen Rabbit  
  
"Life is too important to take seriously."  
  
- Corky Siegel  
  
(hhm.... so, guess where I get my 'sense of humor' from???? ^.^;; ) 


	4. Caroling is an Xtreme Sport? Who would h...

Sneaky Chibi Otaku Geek presents...  
  
A Rumiko Takahashi creation of  
  
Ranma 1/2  
  
Written by Hotaru Kimiko Lai...  
  
Love is in the Air: A Christmas Story  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Caroling is an Xtreme Sport? Who would have known...  
  
Akane.  
  
Akane was in the kitchen.  
  
Akane was in the kitchen and it looked like she was cooking.  
  
Ranma stared at her back. It seemed amazing. But something strange was happening in the kitchen. Akane was cooking, at least, it looked like it.  
  
"Is she cooking?" whispered Ukyo to Ranma. He shrugged. He couldn't tell. She looked like she was. After all, she was moving pots and pans around and moving knives up and down, and there was food on the counter, and there was something boiling in the pan on the stove. But then again, it didn't look like she was cooking. The vegetables that she had cut were in almost perfect cubes, and the cutting board didn't look broken, and there were no weird bottles around her, and whatever was being cooked in the saucepan was staying in, and there was no tentacle trying to escape. And Akane wasn't yelling and screaming or anything. He craned his ear... she was ... humming????? It was unbelievable, but she almost imagine Kasumi cooking instead of Akane... something weird was going on...  
  
Akane was happy. She had a plan, which meant that she had a goal, and that meant that she wouldn't get bored this afternoon. How cool is that? Anyway... her thoughts were on Ranma and how she was going to help him get his memory back. Oh it was so simple. When she had her memory erased by that idiotic Shampoo, she had gotten it back because Ranma started to call her names (the stupid baka...). But now, if Ranma had forgotten how to insult her, well, she would teach him again. Since supper was over, which was too bad really, she was making a light snack for Ranma. Of course, since it's Ranma we're talking about, she was making a little more than the usual. Her hands cut the meat evenly and then seasoned them and mixed flour and egg with them. Notice, flour, not salt or sugar or baking soda, or lemonade mix... it was flour. But she didn't notice. She was so happy thinking of how Ranma would insult her that she let her hands do whatever. The pan had hot oil and she dipped the floured chicken in it and started to fry. Notice, she used regular cooking oil, not motor oil or sesame oil or vinegar... normal cooking oil. Wow. Notice the chicken in the pan, it looks a golden brown color. Notice, that it is also not moving, and does not look purple with green polka dots and it does not have tentacles. It looks dead and doesn't move, except when Akane moves it with her spatula. Then, it rolls. Isn't this exciting? Notice also, that the saucepan has a thick liquid that is red... could it be blood??? But Akane took a wooden spoon, and ...wonder of wonders... tasted her concoction. She smiles absentmindedly and adds a little more sugar (not flour, not salt... sucrose) OK, maybe it's not blood, but it looks like it...  
  
Akane was happy. Life was beautiful, and soon Ranma would be normal, and then she could be happy, knowing that she did the right thing. She started to hum a small song she had heard the other day on the radio. It was a nice song, but it had a sticky tune... she hadn't been able to get it out of her head all day long... how annoying. So, she started to hum. Soon though, she found it slightly boring and decided to change part of it, and improvise. It was quite fun! She took the pan and poured out the fried chicken pieces onto a plate. She also poured out the red sauce into a small dish and put the two on a tray, along with a small canister of toothpicks. She happily took the tray. Now, to find Ranma. She smiled and turned around, to see a bunch of people staring at her from the kitchen door.  
  
Her humming stopped. Her eyes froze. Her smile left, much to Ranma's disappointment. And she stared. And the rest just stared back at her. Finally, she gave a small exclamation of surprise, and reacted a lot like how Kasumi had when she had seen Akane with her short hair.  
  
Ranma watched. Everything was in slow motion again. Her mouth formed a small O of surprise, and the tray, along with the dishes flew across the room. Quick as greased and oiled and just plain fast lightning, he ran across the room and caught everything, even the blood like liquid. He handed the tray back to Akane. Wordlessly, Akane put the tray on the counter top and turned to look at Ranma.  
  
"May I ask..." she started with a skeptical look on her face. "What are you and the rest doing?"  
  
"Um... we just wanted to see what you were doing." said Ranma nervously, hand behind his head, looking a little bit lost.  
  
"Oh." said Akane and decided to ignore the fiancees behind him. "Hey, I made something for you!" Ranma froze. The fiancees behind him froze. The whole world froze! (Ok, not the whole world...) She took a plate of food that she had just made and gave it to him. And then, she passed him a small cup of a thick sticky liquid... so like blood...  
  
"Um... for me?" asked Ranma nervously. Akane saw him get nervous and inwardly smiled.  
  
"Yeah, try it!" said Akane, happily. She just couldn't wait till Ranma turned normal. Of course, he'd probably end up insulting her, but it was for a good cause! Ranma looked hesitantly at the food and took it slowly up till it was about mouth level. He looked at Akane. She had her fingers crossed, he noted, and a hopeful smile on her face. Her eyes twinkled, like glittering chocolate hard candy with caramel stripes. And for some reason unknown to him, he wanted to please those eyes, eyes that he knew, shone only for him at the present moment. So he took a bite, even though his other "fiancees" were telling him not to. Even though he had already encountered her cooking that day. Was it only an hour or so that he had insulted her cooking? It seemed... longer... He could feel everything entering into slow motion mode again. Shampoo started to run towards him, probably saying something around the lines of, "Stop airen! No eat silly girl's food!" So he took a bite, and the world stopped. Shampoo stopped. The others at the doorway stopped and time seemed to be frozen for them also. Akane's timing stopped.  
  
Mind processing has started. He chews. The flavors seep into his tongue, sending... could it be?... pleasant tastes to the brain for processing. CIA agents in there worked over time to think of how something Akane made, could taste... so... so... good! Unfortunately, a few seconds time wasn't enough to solve it, so it was put into the UNSOLVED MYSTERIES folder in a rusty filing cabinet.  
  
"So, what do you think?" asked Akane eagerly. "Bad? Tasteless? Gross? Do you need to puke yet?" Ranma stared at her and at the plate in his hands. He was holding treasure! TREASURE!!!  
  
"It was... it was..." started Ranma, not quite sure how to word it.  
  
"Yes?" asked Akane as she leaned in eagerly. She smiled inwardly. Her plan was fool proof! Nothing could go wrong. Ranma and her cooking just didn't mix... and Ranma was sure to tell her that it was awful.  
  
"It was... delicious!" said Ranma with a smile, deciding to keep it simple. Time froze again. On Akane's face was an expression of pure shock, which was mirrored by the others in the room. Akane's world fell through. No! It can't be! Impossible! How could this happen!? Her plan, so carefully thought up off, had backfired in her face. And worse yet, she couldn't get him to understand. He was Ranma, and he never understood. "Akane. What's wrong?" asked Ranma worried, seeing his fiancee's expression. Akane looked at him, pointing her watery brown eyes at him. She stopped for a moment before she ran to her room, not making a sound.  
  
Ranma stood there confused. What did he do wrong? He had read somewhere that girls like compliments... so what went so wrong?  
  
"Airen OK?" asked Shampoo as she inched closer to Ranma.  
  
"Yeah, hon..." said Ukyo as she went into the kitchen. "Did her cooking affect you that much?"  
  
"OHOHOHOHO!" said Kodachi as she bounced into the room. "OHOHOHOHO!!!" Shampoo looked at Ukyo and vice-versa. With a nod, they sent a double attack to the delusional girl that sent her out of the kitchen through a window so conveniently left open. Ukyo touched Ranma's shoulder.  
  
"Ranchan, are you all right?" she asked, with care and concern. Ranma jumped as he felt her touch and leaped back, holding the plate in such a way that nothing would spill.  
  
"No!" said Ranma. "It's mine! You can't take her chicken away from me! It's good! I won't share it!" Shampoo and Ukyo sweatdropped as Ranma leaped out of the window also, carrying his precious plate of chicken. (BTW, check author's notes) And the wind decided to blow and the curtains rustled and all was quite. Except for Kasumi calling the family together to go caroling. And everything looked so peaceful and calmed. Shampoo and Ukyo stared out the window. Today was just too weird.  
  
Akane thought. What had gone so wrong? What was the world coming to? For once, she had tried so hard to get the food to be... bad, like it usually was... but this time... Fate had screwed up. Someone had cheated her of her ability to make food look like nuclear waste.  
  
'Think Akane!' she thought to herself. She was in her room, huddled up on her bed. 'What do I do know? Give up?' She thought. 'Nah... I don't give up that easily. So what? What can I do to help him? Wait, why in the world do I want to help him in the first place?' And for the first time that day, she thought about that. Yeah.... why? Silence in the room as Akane thought. She had an inkling of a suspicion, but before it came to her, Kasumi called. And it was time to go caroling.  
  
Ranma thought. What had gone so wrong? What was the world coming to? He had been... nice! And what did he get for all his troubles? Smelling that perfume all day and getting Akane to cry three million times. Funny thing about the perfume. During the kitchen incident, he smelled it slightly, but not from Akane, so he lost interest. Now, where was he? Oh, yeah... he was in the dojo, leaning against the wall. What to do next, he didn't want Akane to cry because of him. 'And why do I care so much?' asked Ranma to himself. Now, there was a question worthy of being pursued by his intellect. But his train of thought was canceled, since he heard Kasumi call every one. Oh...well... It was time to go caroling. Oh joy! Woopee... yeah right...  
  
"We wish you a Merry Christmas,  
  
We wish you a Merry Christmas,  
  
We wish you a Merry Christmas,  
  
And a Happy New Year!"  
  
"Bleagh," muttered Nabiki. "Why do I have to sing carols?" She was all bundled up in a forest green coat with white trim and black pants and boots. She looked around her. Akane was on the end, beside her. On her other side were Kasumi, Soun, Ranma and Genma. Dr. Tofu stood behind Kasumi, smiling foolishly and holding Betty on his shoulders, beside Ukyo, Kodachi, and Shampoo, who were fighting a little over who got to stand closest to Ranma.  
  
"Oh, Nabiki, it's fun to sing carols!" said Kasumi. "Don't you think so, Dr. Tofu?" She was wearing a periwinkle blue jacket and white pants with black boots. She looked at the doctor and smiled.  
  
"Y...y...yeah, K...k..Kasumi," he stammered out.  
  
"It's times like these I want to be like Scrooge." said Nabiki to no one in particular. She stuffed her hands in her pockets, and looked a lot like a petulant child. "He had lots of money and didn't have to sing stupid carols at Christmas time unless he wanted to." Kasumi smiled.  
  
Soun and Genma conversed.  
  
"Yes, it's a beautiful time of the year, right Soun, old pall?" asked Genma.  
  
"Oh, definitely," said Soun. "It's wonderful, all the love and care flying around. Brings a tear to your eye, it does."  
  
"Yes," said Genma with a smile. "A time of love and fellowship and presents... talking about that, Ranma my boy!"  
  
"What do you want?" asked Ranma sullenly. It was cold, he wanted to think and most certainly did not want to be here singing Christmas carols.  
  
"Show more respect for your father," said Soun.  
  
"Anyway," said Genma. "I was wondering, did you get anything for Akane for Christmas?"  
  
"Yes," said Soun. "After all, she's your fiancee. How are you two getting along."  
  
"Peachy," said Ranma sarcastically before shutting up. Unfortunately, the two adults took it wrong.  
  
"Oh!" said Soun with a shout. "I'm so glad! Saotome, the future of our two families is now secure!"  
  
"Yes!" said Genma, loudly also. "Who knows, they might even be married by the New Year, Soun old pal!"  
  
"That would be just wonderful!" said Soun, tears of joy streaming from his eyes.  
  
"WHAT!!!???" shouted Akane, Ranma, Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi. Kasumi just smiled. Nabiki  
  
rolled her eyes. Dr. Tofu danced about with Betty-chan.  
  
"WHAT??????!!!!!!!! RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!" shouted another voice. Everyone turned back and saw a figure with a poisonous green aura around him. His eyes glinted.  
  
Sometime before, while they were singing, a young man looked at the stars. It was a beautiful night, with a clear sky and the stars twinkled brightly, as if somebody got a can of polish and had rubbed the grime of them and let them shine brightly once more. Such a beautiful evening. If only he could share it with  
  
someone. But alas, the poor solitary boy was by himself, and lost and didn't know what to do, where to go...  
  
Ryouga looked at the night sky. 'Akane', he thought. 'If only you could be here with me, I would tell you how much I love you... and make sure you' have a happy life, beside me, and not that uncivilized Ranma, who doesn't deserve you.' He walked. He was wearing his normal clothes, but they were thicker, since it was winter, and it was cold. Even though the night was beautiful, it reminded him of his loneliness. He started to draft a letter in his head.  
  
'Dearest Akane,' it would start. 'How are you? I hope you are doing fine. Right now, I'm not sure where I am. Perhaps Hokkaido, or perhaps Russia... but I want you to know, wherever I am, I always think about you. I got a present for you. I got it... somewhere... I'm sure you'll like it.' Here he stopped. 'Oh Akane,' he thought. 'If only I could find you, but I am so lost without you. If only the gods would give me a sign...' and almost immediately, the sign was granted.  
  
"We wish you a Merry Christmas,  
  
And a Happy New Year!"  
  
A sign! People were singing of joy and hope and telling him to not give up! He decided, since these people were so nice, he'd go by and tell them that they sang very well. He was almost there when he heard something else...  
  
"Yes," said Soun. "After all, she's your fiancee. How are you two getting along."  
  
"Peachy," said Ranma sarcastically before shutting up. Unfortunately, the two adults took it wrong.  
  
"Oh!" said Soun with a shout. "I'm so glad! Saotome, the future of our two families is now secure!"  
  
"Yes!" said Genma, loudly also. "Who knows, they might even be married by the New Year, Soun old pal!"  
  
"That would be just wonderful!" said Soun, tears of joy streaming from his eyes. Ryouga felt his blood begin to boil.  
  
"WHAT??????!!!!!!!! RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!" he shouted as he ran the last block to the boy. Ranma saw him and immediately jumped out of the way, causing Ryouga to loose his balance.  
  
"Yo, Ryouga, what's up?" he asked. Right now, he didn't want to think about fiancees. So Ryouga was a nice distraction.  
  
"How could you Ranma?" asked Ryouga as he tried to punch him. Ranma avoided them easily.  
  
"How could I what, P-Chan?" asked Ranma innocently. Akane watched from the sidelines along with everyone. What the heck, there was Ranma fighting again. He always fought, the stupid baka... but this time, she couldn't really blame him, after all, it was Ryouga who attacked. So she watched, and grew depressed. Ranma had been surprised at the talk of marriage, but he hadn't denied them. She tried to blink away a tear. It was always her fault! And now, poor Ranma... he probably didn't even want this, but he didn't know it. Maybe she should just run away. There was more of a chance of Ranma forgetting her. Nabiki looked at her sister.  
  
"Yo, Akane," she said. "Are you O.K.?" she asked. Akane was about to answer when she heard something that made her heart soar. Back to the battle...  
  
"How can you marry Akane with out her consent!!!" shouted Ryouga as he lunged at Ranma and managed to hit his side. Ranma stumbled back.  
  
"What?" he said, slightly confused. "Who said anything about marrying that tomboy?" Akane's ears perked up. Could it be? Were her ears deceiving her?  
  
"How dare you call Akane san that?" shouted Ryouga as he got very mad and lunged for Ranma again. Ranma hastily blocked Ryouga's attacks. "You don't deserve her, Ranma Saotome!!!" Ranma leapt over Ryouga and landed in a ready position.  
  
"She is a tomboy! I don't see why you see anything so special about her!" he said with out thinking. Akane gasped. Nabiki and Kasumi looked at her with a concerned look and noticed the tears pouring down her cheeks. Soun and Genma joined into the fray.  
  
"How dare you, boy!!!" said Genma as he jump kicked Ranma.  
  
"Ranma, show respect to your fiancee!" said Soun as he tried to sweep out Ranma's feet from under him. Mousse saw them, and smiled, from the shadows. He had been stalking the carolers and now was his chance to prove to his beautiful Shampoo that he was worthy of her by attacking Ranma. So he also jumped into the fray.  
  
"Silly Mousse!!" shouted Shampoo as she saw Mousse shoot several chains at Ranma. "No hurt airen!!!" And with that, she too jumped into the fray. Ukyo sighed. These people were so predictable. She would show Ranchan just how perfect and nice of a fiancee she was by staying out of the fight. Until she saw Ryouga hit Ranma.  
  
"Ryouga!" she shouted. "What do you think you're doing?" With that, she jumped in, whipping out her shuriken spatulas out. Kodachi looked at the fray and covered her mouth as she laughed.  
  
"OHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!" she laughed. "Ranma honey!!! I'm coming to save you!" There goes another bystander. Tofu looked at them, and hoped they didn't get hurt. Young people now a days...  
  
"Akane, are you all right?" asked Kasumi worriedly on seeing the tears. But Akane surprised them all. She broke out into a huge smile of joy and happiness.  
  
"He's back to normal," she said quietly. And she cried tears of joy.  
  
"Um, Akane, are you O.K.?" asked Nabiki as she felt Akane's forehead. "You know, Kasumi, her forehead is a little hot."  
  
"Oh my," said Kasumi. "Are you getting sick?"  
  
"No, I'm fine," said Akane as she wiped her tears. "Let's sing!!!" Nabiki and Kasumi consented, hoping that it would get Akane back to normal. And they began to sing.  
  
"Hark the herald, angels sing  
  
Glory to the new born king!..."  
  
And slowly, the fighting stopped. Ranma jumped out and landed on a branch to listen to them sing. Akane had quite a lovely soprano voice. Kasumi sang harmony in with her mezzo soprano voice, along with Nabiki in contra alto.  
  
"Peace on earth, and mercy mild,  
  
God and sinners reconciled."  
  
Shampoo stopped also. 'Stupid tomboy girl, money girl and calm girl have good voice.' she thought. Very good voices.  
  
"Joyful all ye nations rise,  
  
Join the triumph of the skies.  
  
With angelic host proclaim,  
  
Christ is born in Bethlehem.  
  
Hark! The herald angels sing,  
  
Glory to the newborn king!"  
  
And the song finished. By then, everyone had stopped fighting. The people they were singing to smiled and cheered. The group that was fighting had calmed down a bit, and were awestruck.  
  
Soun smiled, and for a minute, tears fell from his eyes. Not the all out bawling that usually came out. These were silent tears of joy and pride. Genma was also amazed at the singing. He looked at the calm around him.  
  
"You know, boy, your fiancee is a wonderful singer." he said. "You should be proud of her!" Which of course, set off another bout of fighting as Ranma hastily tried to defend himself. And the sisters smiled at each other. They each loved to sing, so they went to the next house, followed by Dr. Tofu who sang along with them.  
  
"Chestnuts roasting over an open fire,  
  
And Jack Frost nipping at your nose.  
  
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,  
  
And folks dressed up as eskimos."  
  
Ranma finally made it back. He had had to fight everyone off and then, he tried to find Akane. She sang so well. Who would have known that tomboy could sing so well? Inwardly he scolded himself. He had to remember to stop calling her uncute and things like that. She probably hated that. So, with that in mind, he limped back to the Tendo dojo, holding a stick to prop himself up. And on the street, one solitary figure walked in the direction of the dojo, contemplating...  
  
The End... not...!!!  
  
Hello, welcome to this session's Author's notes, hosted by yours truly, Hotaru!!!  
  
Anyway, so what did you think? Sorry for the long wait in between chapters. (How long has it been? A month? Two? A year?) Anyway, did you like it? If you did, please review. If you didn't still review!!!! Anyway, thanks for the encouraging notes. Honestly, I don't know how I could write if I didn't get them. Thank you people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Three Cheers to my awesome readers!!!!! Anyway, (again) I hope you enjoyed reading it... I certainly enjoyed writing it!!!! As always, R&R, and C&C are very welcome!  
  
Yours truly,  
  
Hotaru!!!  
  
Quotes  
  
"There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write."  
  
-William Thackarey  
  
"A careless word may kindle strife; a cruel word may wreck a life; a timely word may level stress; a loving word may heal and bless."  
  
-Anonymous  
  
PS Anyone know what Shakespeare's epitaph says???? If you do, could you please tell me? Thanx!  
  
PPS And about Ranma. Think about it, Ranma and food. Now think about Ranma and good food... Now think about Akane's normal food. Now, Akane's chicken. Ranma likes Akane, and food and likes Akane's food a lot, especially since it's rare!!! ^.^;; 


	5. Merry Christmas!

Love is in the Air: A Christmas Story  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Merry Christmas!  
  
Disclaimer...  
  
I learned something very depressing the other day. Did you know, I don' own Ranma 1/2???? That is so amazing!! I never though of it this way before. Wow!! =^.^=  
  
Ranma looked at the dojo. He had finally arrived. Which was almost like a miracle. After being attacked by everyone and their dog, he had finally escaped from them. And now, he was back...home. Yes, back home. Where he belonged. And it was Christmas Eve, and all was beautiful and still, silver diamonds on a velvet black night. And he entered. Home Sweet Home.  
  
Before...  
  
Akane and her sisters entered the house, with smiles on their faces. Dr. Tofu had to leave some time ago.  
  
Akane, because she had spent the last few minutes singing her heart out, letting out all the joy and pent up exitement in her. Ranma was back to normal! Yes! He had insulted her, called her uncute and tomboy, which meant that she would mallet him later, but for now, she was content. So she entered and smiled.  
  
Nabiki was happy. Singing had been funner than what she had thought. Of course, with Akane being so enthusiastic about it, who couldn't be so happy? The people they had sung to loved the music, and some even gave money!!! Wasn't that so nice of them? She was richer! (Well, Kasumi didn't really want it, and Akane was too happy to notice.) Talking about Akane, her plan was beautiful. Was it only this morning that the fun had started? Ever since Ranma's other fiancees had come over, she had been able to get three million pictures of them. She could see it now, next year's calander for lovers and girl/boyfriends. It was the best! And the pictures would turn out great, she was sure! And she smiled as she entered.  
  
Kasumi was happy. Singing had been so fun! She got to spend time with her sisters, and for once, wasn't the mother figure. She had seen Akane happy, she had seen Nabiki happy. And she had seen Dr. Tofu behave a bit, and not act so silly. Oh, goodness, the doctor was so silly at times, but he was so nice and sweet. So naive too, but that made him seem dearer to him. So, Kasumi entered the house with a smile.  
  
The sisters split to their rooms after telling Dr. Tofu to stay in the living room to open the Christmas presents later. The rest of the family soon arrived at the dojo, although Ranma was not among them. Soun smiled happily at the memory of his daughters singing and took Genma with him to the living room to talk with each other and wait for everyone else. Kasumi came down the stairs and went to the kitchen to make some hot cocoa and opened a bag of marshmallows. Shampoo followed her inside.  
  
"How can I help you, Shampoo?" asked Kasumi as she made the chocolate mix.  
  
"Um, I no can stay. Shampoo have to leave." said Shampoo sadly. She had no time to be near Ranma by themselves, so she had no chance of getting him to smell the perfume. Oh well, she'd try again another day.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Shampoo," said Kasumi.  
  
"Can Kasumi give airen present? And tell airen Shampoo say Merry Christmas?" asked Shampoo as she took out her present wrapped in red Christmas paper.  
  
"Of course!" said Kasumi with a smile. She then took a red and white striped candycane the size of her forearm from her pocket. It had a green and red bow tied around it. "Here! Have a candycane. And Merry Christmas!"  
  
"Xie, xie," said Shampoo (thank you) and left. Kasumi put the present on a table near her and continued to mix the chocolate powder. She waited patiently for the next one. She didn't have to wait for too long, as Ukyo came in a few minutes later.  
  
"Hey, Kasumi," said Ukyo shyly. "Hi."  
  
"Hello, Ukyo," said Kasumi with a smile. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Um, I just wanted to tell you that I have to leave. Konatsu will need my help to close up Ucchans and all..." said Ukyo sadly.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Kasumi. "Anything you would want me to do?"  
  
"Um, could you give this to Ranchan?" asked Ukyo. She took out a blue present. "And tell him Merry Christmas from my part."  
  
"Sure! Here, have a candycane. Merry Christmas!" Kasumi took out another huge candycane from her pocket.  
  
"Thanks, Merry Christmas to you too, Kasumi!" said Ukyo as she left. She felt sad. Ranma hadn't noticed her perfume. Which was weird. To her, it had seemed very strong.  
  
Kasumi spooned the chocolate powder into different mugs. This was her present to each one in the family. A cocoa mug. Each had a different design. For example, Nabiki's had a dollar sign ear to hold it with. And it was green with pictures of currency from all over the world. Genma had a cute panda rolling around the cup. Ranma's had a design of Jusenkyo, with pools and bamboo sticks. Oh, and an SD picture of a guide. Akane's had a bunch of hammers and little pigs. Her dad had one with a Shogi game design. She looked up as Ryouga walked in.  
  
"Hello, Kasumi," he said. "I have to leave, because my parents are expecting me."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Would you like me to call a cab?"  
  
"That would help," he said, thankfully. "Could you give this to Akane- san?" He took out a box wrapped in yellow paper.  
  
"Of course, Ryouga," she said. She handed him a candycane. "Merry Christmas."  
  
"Merry Christmas to you too." Kasumi smiled and went to make a call to the taxi service. She  
  
checked the boiling water. Kodachi came in.  
  
"Give this to Ranma for me, please?" asked Kodachi. "I have to go and make sure my dear brother hasn't run away from his father so that we can celebrate Christmas." Kasumi smiled.  
  
"No problem." she said and handed her a candycane. "Merry Christmas, Kodachi." Kodachi looked at the candy.  
  
"Why, thank you, Kasumi Tendo." she said, before turning around and leaving. Kasumi smiled. She poured the milk into the mugs and put a bow on each one. With each mug, she added two huge marshmallows. She smiled and covered the mugs up. Akane came in.  
  
"Hello Kasumi!" she said. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Hi, Akane," said Kasumi. "Here, take these outside and put them under the Christmas tree?"  
  
"Sure," said Akane. She scooped up the packages and took them outside. Kasumi put all the mugs on a tray and covered them, so that no one would see them.  
  
Ranma finally came back.  
  
"Tadaima!" he said weakly as he walked in. Kasumi came out of the kitchen.  
  
"Hello Ranma!" she said. "Go to the living room. We'll be giving presents out soon!" She dissapeared back into the kitchen. Ranma went to his room and gathered the presents that he had bought. He took them down and set them under the Christmas tree, where more presents laid. He sat down and waited. Akane soon came with presents also, all wrapped up in the unique way only Akane could wrap. (That is, very messily.) Nabiki came next and deposited hers under the Christmas tree. Akaen looked around and finally sat next to Ranma. Nabiki saw them and smiled. She went to the door and took out her camera. A hand on her shoulder stopped her from taking a picture. She looked up.  
  
"Um, hi,...sis." she said nervously.  
  
"Hello, Nabiki," said Kasumi with a calm smile. "I take it you're taking pictures to give to Ranma and Akane later?" Nabiki felt trapped. Kasumi's smile grew. "Right?"  
  
"Um.. yeah," said Nabiki. "Right, sis. They are for Ranma and Akane."  
  
"Oh, that's very nice of you," said Kasumi as she went into the kitchen once more. Nabiki snapped her fingers and put her camera away. Darn it. She sat down beside Akane. After a while, Kasumi took out a tray full of the mugs.  
  
"Merry Christmas, everyone!" she said as she handed out the mugs. "Hope you all like them!"  
  
"Thanks!" said everyone. Nabiki looked at hers. She liked it, liked it a lot.  
  
"Oh Kasumi!" said Soun. "It's perfect!" He started to bawl. Kasumi spent some time calming her father. And the presents were opened, and everyone sang and talked.  
  
Ranma got from Kodachi a box full of rose petels. He quickly threw it out the window, and just in time also, since it exploded and sleeping gas fell harmelssly on to the street. From Ukyo, he got a box with a set of mini spatulas and a card. 'To Ranchan, hope you have fun practicing with these! Merry Christmas, from your cute fiancee, Ucchan.' From Shampoo, he got a box with Chinese Instant Jusenkyo Curse packages. Fortunatly, they all worked only once. From Genma and Soun, he got money. 'To buy Akane a ring.' said the note. From Nabiki, he got a slip of paper. 'All debts from August to November have been cancelled.' He liked that too.  
  
Kasumi got a new apron, not that she needed one. But this one was a plain apron, except that each member had signed it and had drawn a little picture or written a note. It was meant to be looked at, and not used. Nabiki gave her a one year subscription of Good Housekeeping, and a new pair of shoes. Soun got her a new watch, and Akane got her a cook book.  
  
Akane looked at her presents. She got the same thing from Nabiki. Wasn't she so nice? From her dad and uncle Genma, she got a new karate gi. Ryouga had given her a box of Swiss Chocolates, a package of Colombian coffee and a box of Chinese teas. Wasn't he so sweet? He travelled all over the place. It was nice that he had thought of her when on his trips. That was so nice of him. Akane felt satisfied; she had nice presents, and Ranma was back to normal. Talking about Ranma... he was reading Nabiki's gift certificate. She was glad that he was back to normal, but she wished that his normal self would be nice to her. Oh well, it was a sacrifice that she had made.  
  
"Here, Ranma," said Akane. "This is for you." She took a lumpy package and gave it to Ranma. Ranma stared at the package. "And I'm glad that you're back to normal." she said quietly. She stood up and went to her room quickly. Ranma stared after her. What was all that about? He opened the present. It was a blue and yellow scarf. She had knit it. He could tell. There were knots here and there, where she had gotten mad at the yarn and had pounded it. But it looked like a scarf. He suddenly remembered. He hadn't given her his preasent yet. But he decided to give it to her later. And around him, they talked and sang. Genma and Soun had taken out a cask of sake to celebrate. Nabiki, Kasumi and Akane had pooled their money and had bought them a new shogi board. They were very happy. Nabiki got a new camera from her father, and Akane had gotten her a little statue of a girl typing away at a computer.  
  
"That's you." Akane had said with a smile. "Always working on your computer."  
  
The night winded down and Ranma went upstairs. He knocked on Akane's door.  
  
"Come in." said a voice from inside. Ranma entered. Akane was writing on a journal she had. "Hi, Ranma. What do you want?"  
  
"Um, here's your Christmas present." said Ranma shyly.  
  
"Oh, you didn't have to," said Akane. She took the package that Ranma offered and opened it. Inside was a thin silver chain with a turquoise stone. She gasped. "Thank you, Ranma." she said. It's beautiful!" The room got quiet. "Um... did you like my present?" she finally asked shyly. Just to make sure that Ranma was still normal.  
  
"Um..." said Ranma, not quite sure what to say. He wanted Akane to feel happy, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings. "It was a nice scarf..." Akane's eyes teared up again.  
  
"It was a sweater, Ranma," she said with joy in her voice. He was back to normal. "But, I'm glad you're back to normal."  
  
"Normal?" asked Ranma. He was confused. Normally, she would have malleted him for confusing a sweater for a scarf, but today, she was acting weird.  
  
"Yes, normal," said Akane. "You're finally yourself."  
  
"Why did you think I wasn't myself?" asked Ranma, confused.  
  
"Because you were nice after supper. I'm glad my cooking's effects have worn out. You got over your selective amnesia. I'm glad." Akane smiled and blushed.  
  
"Huh?" said Ranma. "What's this about selective amnesia?"  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Akane. "The danger is over." Ranma thought for a while. You know, this was very weird. He was sure he had not had selective amnesia. He still remembered her after all! So,... a light bulb turned on. Ping! He knew what had happened!  
  
"Hey, Akane," he asked worriedly. "Are you sure you're OK?" Akane had been the one that was acting weird and he hadn't realized it! She must be the one that had selective amnesia! Probably the toxic fumes from the supper she made had changed her slightly. "I think you're the one with selective amnesia!"  
  
"WHAT???" asked Akane. "What do you mean? None of us have it now. You used to have it but now you are cured, because Ryouga taught you how to insult me again!"  
  
"You mean, you thought, I had amnesia,... because I was nice to you?" he asked, surprised. "And here I though, you were the weird one, because you did all that cooking for me and were so worried..."  
  
"I dont' have selctive amnesia, Ranma." said Akane as she blushed hotly. Ranma did likewise, and stared at each other.  
  
"So, you mean, you were being nice to me, because you wanted to?" asked Akane hesitantly. "And when you hugged me also?" Ranma nodded.  
  
"What about you?" he asked. "When you took me to the doctor, and made me the food... you really wanted me to get better even though it meant I would probably insult you again?" She nodded. The two stood silently, inches from each other, not quite sure how to take in all the information.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Akane finally, tears of sadness streaming from her eyes. "I never meant to cause so much confusion. I promise, I won't ever cook again." She stood there, not quite sure what to do. So she was surprised when she felt arms embracing her.  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Ranma softly. His face felt radiated heat like crazy. "And... I, I like it when you cook for me, even if I don't always show it. And your chicken was good." Akane sniffed and slowly hugged him also.  
  
"Thankyou, Ranma," she said softly. And they stayed like that for some time.  
  
The next day, during lunch, Nabiki handed them two copies a calendar.  
  
"It's next year's calander." she said, with a smile. "Hope you like it." She was about to walk away and escape from the danger zone when Kasumi cornered her in the kitchen.  
  
"Oh, Nabiki!" she said. "That's very nice of you! Why don't you two open it now?" Nabiki jumped out the window as she heard the explosion behind her.  
  
"NABIKI!!!!" shouted Akane and Ranma together. They looked at each other and grinned. "COME BACK HERE, YOU!!!!" And the two ran after her. Kasumi looked at the calanders. Each month had a different pose of Ranma and Akane, all taken yesterday. She flipped through the pictures. She liked February's the best. It was a picture of Ranma holding Akane in his arms with freshly fallen snow around them. (chapter 2) And she giggled. She looked at the sprig of mistle toe. OK, so maybe, they ddin't need the mistle toe. It was so nice to see them get along so well.  
  
...THE END...  
  
Finally! It's over! Thank you for all the reviews. This was meant as a one shot fic, but oh well. I'm glad you all liked it. You have no idea how happy writing this and seeing your reviews have made me! It was wonderful writing for all of you. And it's my first Ranma fanfic!!! I'm so glad!!! Thank you for all your support. To all my wonderful reviewers!!! You guys are just awesome!!!!  
  
Consider this a little present on behalf of it being Easter! Have a great Easter all of you! And remember,  
  
He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!!! (x3)  
  
Yours truly,  
  
Hotaru Kimiko Lai  
  
The Sneaky Chibi Otaku Geek  
  
No, I won't forget... (how this sky is blue)  
  
No, I won't forget... (how this dream came true)  
  
They're the gentle times e'll share forever  
  
Long past all those times are thru.  
  
Even when I'm sad... (days I just don't know)  
  
Even when I'm glad... (days the tears just flow)  
  
Mem'ries of days I'll never, ever let go.  
  
(End of Where Do We Go From Here, You and Me?) 


End file.
